Horseman Number 3: Osama Used 40 bits

[Trei, Peter]

	[...]

> Brian Gladman, an ex-NATO encryption expert based in the UK, says that
> 40-bit DES means checking about a billion billion different keys in
> succession. This would take the average desktop computer a year, but a
> group of powerful machines could perform the feat in a few days, he says.
> However, he adds: "If you go much beyond 40 bits it is outside the realm
> of
> possible."
> 
[...]

An 'ex-Nato encryption expert' who can't do math, and doesn't
know the field.

40 bits ~~ a million million 
60 bits ~~ a billion billion   

He's off by a factor of a million. The fact that
10 bits ~~1000 (actually 1024) is something that 
is engraved inside the skull of anyone who actually deals
with this stuff. 

Much beyond 40 bits is impossible?

Tell that to distributed.net/EFF , which brute-forced a 
56 bit key in under 24 hours a couple years ago, and
is currently working on a 64 bit key (They're 2/3 of the
way through at the moment).

Peter Trei


[Moderator's note: It wasn't a direct quote, and I generally assume
reporters misquote people anyway. Also, note that the general
confusion because the UK uses "thousand million" for the US "billion"
makes the whole thing even less clearly the expert and not the
reporter. --Perry]




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